Book Review: Homo Deus
Inspired by James Clear and his article on how to retain more of every book you read, I decided to start writing a quick little summary of some of the books I’ve recently been reading.
Here’s the next one:
- Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
In my series, I’ll write my top 5 take-aways for each book, as a handy way to remember what was most important to me while reading.
Here’s my structure:
- quick book blurb
- top 5 take-ways
- fave quotes
- end thoughts
Enjoy!
Book Blurb // Background of The Book
After reading the best selling Sapiens by the same author, I was keen to read this sequel. I managed to pick this book up from a charity shop for £1 — bargain!
Like Sapiens, this book is a fascinating look at humankind, going into the depths of many aspects that make us human.
In particular, Homo Deus takes a forward looking approach as to what the future might hold for our species providing many thought-provoking (and often quite chilling) ideas for what the future might look like.
As the name hints, Harari suggests that humans will try to modify themselves to become a sort of ‘god’. He thinks this can be done in 3 ways:
- biological engineering — altering/improving our current bodies through organic means
- cyborg engineering — adding non-organic components to our bodies
- engineering of non-organic beings — using non-organic means to develop human-like AI
The ultimate goal is to reach the point where we can live forever.
We’re already extending our human capabilities with technology, so why not extend that to eternal life?
Creepy, yes? ^
Take-Aways // Tessa’s Top 5
- Harari argues that humans and their thought processes can ultimately be boiled down to chemical processes and algorithms. These algorithms can be replicated by artificial intelligence. → I didn’t fully agree with Harari’s logical steps that showed that everything we do is an algorithm. For example, he argued that every thought is just a chemical reaction in our brain which we can ‘see’ happening in brain scans. Is this really true? Or is there more to it? I don’t think we understand enough of human consciousness at the moment to make that logical leap. These was a key assumption which was carried throughout the rest of the book.
- Biological engineering is already happening, to some extent. For example, people use antidepressants to avoid negative thoughts. Next Harari argues that we will start using such methods to ‘improve’ healthy people. In turn, this will start to separate us into the ‘elite’, the ones that can afford improvements, and ‘the rest’. The relationship could be akin to the current relations between humans and animals. Think about pig farms, where we subject pigs to harm and suffering because we think their intelligence is less than ours. Was does that spell for the future? → This was a really interesting point. Will it be a slippery slope from here?
- To avoid becoming a ‘useless’ class of person, one must learn how to learn. Learning quickly and being able to reinvent ourselves will be critical to sustain our ‘human’ advantage. → I would’ve like to have read more about what Harari considers human.
- Harari believes AI is likely to replace humans (thanks to their efficiency in completing algorithms), which will result in a class of economically useless people. Jobs will be replaced by AI so what will this class of people do? Give them drugs and computer games to keep them happy? If we live forever what does this do to work, friendships, marriage, children, love?
- The data age that we have created is causing an ‘uncoupling’ of intelligence and consciousness, and we are beginning to/have already created machines that can process algorithms better than us, giving power to networks and removing the need for consciousness. Dataism is reducing us to just a coupe of data points and is already being accepted by those of Silicon Valley and beyond. Already, for example, governments struggle to keep up with technological advances. But the fast moving data-transformation doesn’t necessarily spell the end of humankind, we just don’t know our place in it yet…
My Fav Quotes // One For the Wall
“To attain real happiness, humans need to slow down the pursuit of pleasant sensations, not accelerate it”
and…
“The most common reaction of the human mind to achievement is not satisfaction, but craving for more.”
and this one..
“We do not become satisfied by leading a peaceful and prosperous existence. Rather, we become satisfied when reality matches our expectations. The bad news is that as conditions improve, expectations balloon.”
Final Thoughts // Would I Recommend?
A book with some pretty chilling thoughts, huh?
Would I recommend though — yes, absolutely.
What a thought-provoking read!
As with Sapiens I do think these books are a little bleak to read at times. Sapiens argues that we are here by accident, a mistake. Home Deus at times argues that we will be replaced, becoming useless.
But on the flip side, after reading this book I get the sense that we are at a major turning point. Many things in the world are radically changing. Christian (and other religion’s) morality is being replaced by data-driven judgements. We are about to embark on an exciting journey, which could result in huge transformations in our health, knowledge and life expectancy.
Who knows what the future will bring..?
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts? Or have you read any other good books recently?
Here are some other reviews in my series:
